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We’re all on social media, for better or worse. The entire world seems to run on these platforms. From TikTok to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, it can sometimes seem like social media is actually the world.

Absorption in the online world of social media can have horrible effects on our mental health, particularly in the realm of depression. By sinking deeper into the social media muck, depressing thoughts can increase, and statistics have shown a startling connection between social media use and suicide rates.

Studies have shown that girls who started using social media for two to three hours per day at 13 years old and increased their use over the years had a higher clinical risk of suicide as young adults.

But how does social media impact depression? And what can we do to fight back? Read on to find out.

How can social media impact depression?

Here are four main ways that increased social media use can trigger depression in children and adults.

Feelings of inadequacy

When we’re constantly looking at other people’s lives through the lens of social media, we’re always seeing their best. Even when you know that images and expressed feelings are in some way manipulated, they can still trigger feelings of inadequacy.

It creates feelings of shame at not being further along in our careers. It might be loneliness brought on by seeing happy couples walking hand in hand while you’re still single. It even triggers bouts of body dysmorphia, where we come to feel sadness about our own appearance.

Isolation

When you see images and videos constantly of groups of people having fun together, it could trigger reflection on your own social life. When this occurs, we can start to feel increasingly isolated and alone.

These feelings of loneliness only deepen the more we scroll through social pages, watching the world go by in a blur while we sit in the dark, illuminated by the light of mobile devices.

FOMO

Fear of Missing Out, also known as FOMO, is a psychological phenomenon where human beings are triggered by anxiety over not knowing about or missing out on fun or interesting activities and information.

Scrolling through social media sites like Facebook can increase FOMO and feed into social media addictions. FOMO compels many people to succumb to their anxieties and depression. They check their phones religiously every few minutes for social media updates, which only deepens feelings of FOMO.

Cyberbullying

Perhaps the most dangerous and depressing aspect of social media comes from cyberbullying. When someone becomes the target of online harassment and hate campaigns, it can strap a rocket to their depression, filling them with a sense of hopelessness and self-loathing.

The anonymity of the internet can bring out the cruelty and malice in humanity. Unfortunately, this has been known to lead many individuals to commit suicide.

Cyberbullying has been shown to increase suicidal thoughts by 14.5% and suicide attempts by 8.7%.

How to prevent social media depression

In the modern world, we have many methods for dealing with stress and depression. This can be attending regular therapy or trying something like Delta-8 THC to manage symptoms. But there are many ways that we can limit the hold social media has on our depression levels by taking a few simple steps.

Limit social media time

You can break your dependency on social media by forcing yourself to limit your time on these platforms. This can be done by simply controlling your urge to check your phone or setting up an app that physically prevents you from opening social apps until a certain amount of time has passed.

Consider using an app to track your social media time or just turning off your phone at certain points throughout the day.

Disable notifications

Another way to prevent social media from causing you a severe depressive episode is to disable notifications from social media apps on your phone. We’re often swayed back onto these platforms by the chime or vibration from our devices. Disabling this reminder might enable you to forget that social media exists for a while.

Report instances of cyberbullying

If you’re being cyberbullied, report it immediately. This could include reporting it to your school, your parents, the social media platforms themselves, or even the local authorities and government agencies.

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No one has a right to make you feel unsafe. If you’re being bullied online, tell someone.

Remove apps from your phone

One way to limit your social media time is to remove social media apps from your mobile devices completely. That doesn’t mean you’re quitting social media altogether. It simply means that you’re limiting your social media time to when you’re online with a laptop or desktop computer.

Part of the reason social media has become such a huge part of modern life is because of how accessible it is. Your social networks are only a tap away. Limiting your access and making it less convenient can break your dependency and decrease your depression levels.

Conclusion

Social media is a powerful part of the modern world, and increased use of it can lead to major issues with depression, anxiety, and stress.

To review, social media can push us to dark, depressing places through:

• Feelings of inadequacy, including physical, mental, professional, and social
• Feelings of isolation or loneliness
• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
• Cyberbullying

To fight against social media-generated depression, there are several steps we can take, including:

• Limiting social media time, either through sheer force of will or by limiting access
• Disabling notifications so as not to be tempted
• Reporting instances of cyberbullying
• Removing apps from your phone and only checking social media on a computer

Depression can be a dark and horrible feeling. By understanding how social media impacts depression and taking steps to fight against it, we can overcome these dark feelings and emerge unscathed into the light.

Social media does not own you, and it’s not the world. Consumption of it is not mandatory. You are bigger and brighter than any social media platform.